The Summer Shack, Cambridge, MA
Apr. 24th, 2010 06:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bex77What a gorgeous day! My mom was busy with a rummage sale at her church today. So I went up there to poke around and ending up buying a lamp! Then went off to see my Dad who was batching it at home. He was watching "The Phantom Gourmet," a local restaurant review show. It was their "Hall of Fame" show where they recap the best places to eat. One of them was Jasper White's "Summer Shack" which I have heard about but never tried. Dad decided he wanted to go. I warned him that it's pricy, and offered to take him to his favorite clam shack at the beach, but he had made up his mind.
So we toddled off to Alewife to try out the Shack.
http://www.summershackrestaurant.com/index.asp
It has a big parking lot, but it is right next to the Red Line T stop, so I would avoid heavy commuter times.
The place has a split personality. The atmosphere and decor is very casual, but much of the food and prices are much more upscale.
It is a cavernous place. It's very informal. Funky fish and murals on the walls, along with big blackboards with the specials and market prices for lobster. Some of the tables look like picnic tables, others diner-like, with butcher paper instead of tablecloths. The staff have on t-shirts.
They give you free corn bread and butter to start. We shared a bowl of clam chowder and 4 jumbo shrimp with cocktail sauce. The cup of chowder was a bigger bowl, on the broth side (rather than the creamy side I prefer) with lots of potatoes and clams. The shrimp were big, fresh and delicious. They were served with cocktail sauce and a remoulade sauce that I found tasty but odd with cocktail shrimp.
We both ordered special entrees. Dad had the West Coast Halibut topped with butter poached leeks in a saffron poached tomato sauce served over mashed potatoes. It was very mild and comforting. I tried the Grilled Jumbo Cape Cod Scallops drizzled with a lemon balsamic sauce, topped with fennel slaw sitting on a crispy potato cake. The seafood was perfectly cooked and the combinations complimented the taste rather than overwhelming them. The portions were average.
We shared a dish of chocolate pudding cake with peanut butter ice cream for dessert. They had warmed the cake...a nice touch.
The service was very good, but the place was very quiet so they weren't stressed.
The prices for the non-entrees seemed average to me, on the high side.
Iced tea $2, Cup of chowder $4.50, Cocktail shrimp $2.50 each
Cake/ice cream $6
The entrees were steeper, both in the mid-$20s. So the total came to just under $80. Now, we did splurge with the full range of appetizer, entrees and dessert. But it didn't feel special enough for that cost. There are cheaper options - they have corn dogs for $6 or fish tacos for $12, but this feels like a place people on expense accounts go. Don't order anything that is market price without asking. Those prices were fierce, many in the $40's or higher.
So overall it was fine, but I don't need to go back. If someone else is paying and dying to go, I wouldn't object. If you're going for plain seafood, Court House Seafood on Cambridge Street is better for less than half the price. And if you want to overpay, go to the Dolphin or Legal Seafood instead. At least the atmosphere matches the food and prices in those places.
So we toddled off to Alewife to try out the Shack.
http://www.summershackrestaurant.com/index.asp
It has a big parking lot, but it is right next to the Red Line T stop, so I would avoid heavy commuter times.
The place has a split personality. The atmosphere and decor is very casual, but much of the food and prices are much more upscale.
It is a cavernous place. It's very informal. Funky fish and murals on the walls, along with big blackboards with the specials and market prices for lobster. Some of the tables look like picnic tables, others diner-like, with butcher paper instead of tablecloths. The staff have on t-shirts.
They give you free corn bread and butter to start. We shared a bowl of clam chowder and 4 jumbo shrimp with cocktail sauce. The cup of chowder was a bigger bowl, on the broth side (rather than the creamy side I prefer) with lots of potatoes and clams. The shrimp were big, fresh and delicious. They were served with cocktail sauce and a remoulade sauce that I found tasty but odd with cocktail shrimp.
We both ordered special entrees. Dad had the West Coast Halibut topped with butter poached leeks in a saffron poached tomato sauce served over mashed potatoes. It was very mild and comforting. I tried the Grilled Jumbo Cape Cod Scallops drizzled with a lemon balsamic sauce, topped with fennel slaw sitting on a crispy potato cake. The seafood was perfectly cooked and the combinations complimented the taste rather than overwhelming them. The portions were average.
We shared a dish of chocolate pudding cake with peanut butter ice cream for dessert. They had warmed the cake...a nice touch.
The service was very good, but the place was very quiet so they weren't stressed.
The prices for the non-entrees seemed average to me, on the high side.
Iced tea $2, Cup of chowder $4.50, Cocktail shrimp $2.50 each
Cake/ice cream $6
The entrees were steeper, both in the mid-$20s. So the total came to just under $80. Now, we did splurge with the full range of appetizer, entrees and dessert. But it didn't feel special enough for that cost. There are cheaper options - they have corn dogs for $6 or fish tacos for $12, but this feels like a place people on expense accounts go. Don't order anything that is market price without asking. Those prices were fierce, many in the $40's or higher.
So overall it was fine, but I don't need to go back. If someone else is paying and dying to go, I wouldn't object. If you're going for plain seafood, Court House Seafood on Cambridge Street is better for less than half the price. And if you want to overpay, go to the Dolphin or Legal Seafood instead. At least the atmosphere matches the food and prices in those places.
